Allen L. Robinson is the Dean of the Walter Scott, Jr. College of Engineering, and a Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Atmospheric Science.

Robinson’s research examines technical and policy issues related to the impact of emissions from energy systems on air quality, climate and public health with an eye toward policy analysis and decision-making. He has taught graduate and undergraduate courses on thermodynamics, atmospheric chemistry, air pollution control, climate change mitigation, combustion, and air quality engineering.

Before rejoining CSU in 2023, he was the Director of Carnegie Mellon University’s campus in Africa (CMU-Africa) and Associate Dean for International Programs in Africa. From 2013-2021, he served as the David and Susan Coulter Head of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Carnegie Mellon. In 2012, he was a professor at Colorado State University in the Departments of Atmospheric Science and Mechanical Engineering, before returning to Carnegie Mellon as department head of Mechanical Engineering. In 2009-2010, Robinson was a visiting faculty fellow at the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Science (CIRES) at the University of Colorado, Boulder. Robinson joined Carnegie Mellon in 1998 after working for two years as a postdoctoral fellow at the Combustion Research Facility at Sandia National Laboratories.

Robinson served as Director of the EPA-sponsored Center for Air, Climate, and Energy Solutions (CACES). He has also served as the elected President of the American Association for Aerosol Research and as a member of the research committee of the Health Effects Institute.

Robinson is a fellow of the American Association of Aerosol Research, the American Geophysical Union, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He received the American Geophysical Union ASCENT Award and the American Association and Aerosol Research David Sinclair Award.

At Carnegie Mellon, Robinson received the George Tallman Ladd Outstanding Young Faculty Award, the Ahrens Career Development Chair in Mechanical Engineering, the Raymond J. Lane Distinguished Professorship in Mechanical Engineering, and the Distinguished Professor of Engineering Award. In 2020, he was named a University Professor, the highest designation a faculty member can receive at Carnegie Mellon.